The Scoop Blog

Fire burns 3-story apartment building in far northeast Dallas

Firefighters had to return to the scene this morning after Monday night’s four-alarm fire rekindled.

Dallas Fire-Rescue fights what's left of a four alarm apartment fire in the 9300 block of Skillman Street

About 15 families lost their homes in the blaze, which began about 7 p.m. and destroyed 24 units at the Las Cascadas apartments.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

Original entry at 10:22 p.m.:

At around 7 p.m., a fire tore through a three-story apartment building in the Las Cascadas apartment complex on Skillman Street in Far Northeast Dallas.

Several neighbors said flames quickly worked their way up the building from the first to third floor. No injuries were reported, according to Lt. Joel Lavender, a spokesman for Dallas Fire Rescue.

The American Red Cross and the apartment complex management will meet the needs of displaced tenants from the 24 apartments affected by fire, smoke, subsequent power outages, Lavender said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, but the investigation is ongoing.

When the fire alarm started blaring in her first-floor apartment, Raynickea Ellis,28, was cooking while her husband and 4-year-old son slept in her bedroom and her parents played with her 1-year-old daughter.

“I thought that maybe I was cooking too fast,” she said. She went to fan the alarm, but noticed that the hallway wall bordering her 4-year-old son’s room had turned black.

“Black smoke just starts filling the house,” she said. She saw flames coming from her son’s closet, and she and her family ran outside.

“By the time we got out, you could see his blinds melting, and you could see flames in the whole apartment,” she said.